Neil Cohn

Neil Cohn, an Associate Professor at Tilburg University and director of the Visual Language Lab, challenges the traditional views of language focused solely on speech. He argues for a multimodal understanding that encompasses visual forms like comics, gestures, and written text. Cohn shares insights from his journey as a comic artist turned linguist, critiques established linguistic theories, and highlights the evolution of graphic expressions as valid forms of communication. His work pushes for reevaluating how we perceive and study language in its many forms.

Neil Cohn, author of 'Who Understands Comics?: Questioning the Universality of Visual Language Comprehension', challenges the assumption of universal comprehension of visual narratives. He explores the complexity of interpreting images, cultural variations, and the developmental trajectory in acquiring the ability to comprehend visual narratives. The podcast also covers topics like the brain's predictions and updates in comics, the influence of disordered focus on comic popularity, methods in visual language comprehension studies, children's development of visual language fluency, and the differences between films and comics in comprehension processes.